What's Going On? December 2nd through December 6th

App Development

This week, we will focus on two important programming concepts: classes and inheritance.  A class is a program-code template used for creating objects.  Essentially, a class sets up a blueprint for how to create something new.  For example, a simple BankAccount class would have some basic information about each client in the bank, including the person's name, account number, and balance.  When we create a new BankAccount object, we would fill it with specific details about a specific client.  The BankAccount class provides the template for how we can create users and work with their data.  Along with this week, students will have a "Classes Playground Reading", a coding challenge, as well as a formative quiz.  Once we wrap up our work with classes, we will work with "Inheritance".  This allows for specific details from one class to be passed down to other classes.  For example, a CheckingAccount class might use, or inherit, all of the information provided in the BankAccount class, plus add its own features such as keeping track of check numbers.



AP Computer Science Principles

We will start off this week by talking about abstraction and its role in programming.  With abstraction, we are able to use things without knowing exactly what makes them work.  For example, a person can drive a car without knowing the specifics of how an engine works.  This is an important concept to understand as students will need to know how to apply it for our AP Create Performance task.  We will spend the rest of the week applying this concept by manipulating images in Python. 

Programming the Web 1

This week, students will work on their web assignment 13A.  Students will be creating the "Clear Reflections Photography" homepage.  This assignment allows students to practice the skill of formatting images for the web in Photoshop as well as practice the skill of creating layouts using CSS.  Along with this week, students will turn in the reading guide for our textbook reading on Tuesday and complete 10 multiple choice questions on Friday.

What's Going On? November 25th and November 26th

Happy Thanksgiving!

Due to the Thanksgiving Holiday, we will have classes on Monday and Tuesday with a break Wednessday through Friday.  Monday will be a "Monday-style" schedule with AE and Tuesday will be a "purple-style" schedule without AE.







App Development

This week, students will wrap up their third summative end-of-unit app challenge, Tip Calculator.  Students will need to complete their reflections and show off their working apps.  Students will receive two grades for the assignment: one for application development (the code) and one for application design (how the app looks).

AP Computer Science Principles

This week, students will wrap up their work on lesson 1.3, our introduction to Python.  Students will need to submit our assignment on the "for loop", as well as our "while loop" activity.  We will also spend some time looking at some sample AP test questions related to loops.  Since the AP test is "language-neutral", it is important to see how test questions will be presented.

Programming the Web 1

This week, we will dive into how to properly format images for web sites.  We will analyze the major photo types that are supported by web browsers, practice modifying them in photoshop, and then apply our design skills when we return from our Thanksgiving break.

What's Going On? November 18th through November 22nd

App Development 

Monday's class will be devoted to wrapping up our work with conditionals and a brief discussion on "scope" of a variable.  During the rest of the week, students will work on their third summative app challenge of the semester, "Tip Calculator".  For this app, students will calculate the 10%, 15%, 20%, and 25% tip for a restaurant bill.  Students looking to expand on this app will focus on figuring out how to evenly split a check between a designated number of people.  Students will be assessed on two major components of this app: creating functional code and creating an aesthetically pleasing design.





Programming the Web 1

This week, students will dive into lesson 12.  Along with this week, students will read chapters 17 and 19 and complete the accompanying reading guide to help identify the important concepts from the chapters.  During class on Friday, students will complete our 10 multiple choice review questions.  STUDENTS ARE ENCOURAGED TO PRE-PLAN THEIR ANSWERS FOR THIS SUMMATIVE.  Additionally, students will have one web page, assignment 12A, to complete in order to practice the ability to create a page using responsive web design.




AP Computer Science A

This week, students will continue our study of the Python programming language.  Students will focus on looping structures, such as the while loop and the for loop.  Along with this week, students will complete activities 1.3.6 and 1.3.7.

What's Going On? November 11th through November 15th

App Development


This week, we will wrap up our discussion on functions.  Students will spend time during class on Monday writing our fourth installment on our technical blog about functions.  Students will define functions, describe the elements of a function header, and describe how to use/call a function.

Next, we will turn our attention to conditional statements.  Students will spend time practicing how to evaluate a condition and writing algorithms based on defined criteria.  Along with our conditionals study, students will take part in a code challenge, a formative assessment, and another technical blog post.



AP Computer Science Principles

This week, we will continue our study of the Python programming language.  Students will spend
some time working with Strings, lists, and tuples.  Toward the end of the week, students will be introduced to some looping structures.  Students will also participate in some practice AP exam questions to help us prepare for the AP exam in May.





Programming for the Web 1

This week, students will continue studying different ways to design layouts using CSS.  During class
on Monday, we will focus on "flexbox".  The flexbox will make it easier for us to design a responsive layout without using the concepts of float and positioning that we focused on during lesson 9.

During the first part of the week, students will participate in a practice exercise that will introduce us to the concept of designing layouts using a flexible container.  Along with this week, students should complete their reading guides by the start of class on Monday and we will take our lesson 9 review questions during class on Thursday.  During class on Thursday and Friday, we will talk about several different ways to design a layout using CSS.

What's Going On? November 4th through November 8th

Parent-Teacher Conferences

There is another opportunity for parent-teacher conferences on Wednesday, November 13th from 5:00-7:00pm.  For this night of conferences, you will need to sign up for a time slot.  Please check out the link and sign up if you would like to meet!

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0f4daba628a1fe3-art




App Development 1

This week, students will dive into the world of functions.  We have been working with functions throughout our semester, but now we will focus on creating and using our own.  Each time a student creates a button and connects it to the code as an action, students are defining a function.  Students will analyze and write function headers.  Toward the end of the week, students will practice writing the entire function in our functions code challenge.  Students will also produce another technical blog post highlighting the purpose of functions as well as their components.

AP Computer Science A

This week, students will continue working within the Python programming language.  Students will

focus on writing if statements, retrieving input from the user, and strings.  Students will have three activities to complete throughout the week.

AP Registration Deadline

Time is running out to register for the AP test while avoiding the late fee.  Students must register and may for the exam by November 8th.  Students who are eligible for free and reduced lunch may apply to have the fee waived.  Please visit our Total Registration website to register.  Also, be sure to declare your intention for the AP exam on the AP Central website.  Complete instructions can be seen here:
https://sdw.waukesha.k12.wi.us//cms/lib/WI02216052/Centricity/Domain/875/North%20AP%20Test%20Letter%20-%20August%202019%20.pdf




Programming for the Web 1

Students will spend Monday and Tuesday of this week wrapping up the midterm assignment.  Students must upload their entire website by the end of class on Tuesday.  If students need some extra time in the lab, it is open from 7:00-7:30am on both days.  Once this is complete, we will move into lesson 9 where we will focus on adjusting layouts using floats and absolute positioning.

What's Going On? October 28th through October 30th

Shortened Week!

This week, students will only have school Monday through Wednesday.  This means that school will begin at 7:35am each day!  Monday will be a regular Monday-style schedule with AE, Tuesday students will attend each of their classes without AE and on Wednesday, we will have an early release with students seeing each of their classes for a shortened period of time.























App Development


Now that we have finished up our Multiply summative app, we will move into our next unit. Students will start off the week with our pre-unit hackwich, Commission.  After this, students will spend the rest of the time for the week learning about app developer's documentation and some more principles of design.



AP Computer Science Principles

This week, students will continue our study of the Python programming language.  Students will spend more time with variables, writing functions, and getting user input.  This is one of the options that students will have when designing their "Create" Performance Task that will be submitted to the AP Board in April.

Speaking of the AP test, time is running out to register for the AP test while avoiding the late fee.  Students must register and may for the exam by November 8th.  Students who are eligible for free and reduced lunch may apply to have the fee waived.  Please visit our Total Registration website to register.  Also, be sure to declare your intention for the AP exam on the AP Central website.  Complete instructions can be seen here: 
https://sdw.waukesha.k12.wi.us//cms/lib/WI02216052/Centricity/Domain/875/North%20AP%20Test%20Letter%20-%20August%202019%20.pdf



Programming the Web 1

This week, students will begin their work on our midterm exam.  Students will have time in class to recreate a four-page website based on images.  During this exam, students may use their notes, Google, past assignments, etc.  However, students must not work together on this project.  All work for our midterm MUST BE COMPLETED IN CLASS.  Students who need additional time to complete their midterm project may schedule additional time in the lab with me. 

What's Going On? October 21st through October 25th

App Development 1

This week, students will be working on our second summative end-of-unit app challenge, Multiply.  For this assignment, students will be demonstrating their use of textfields and actions in order to make a simple calculator.  Students will also work in conditional statements in order to show a variety of images based on the calculator's result.  For this assignment, students will be assessed on their knowledge of code and their ability to design an aesthetically-pleasing app.







AP Computer Science A
This week, students will be wrapping up their practice performance "create" task using MIT App Inventor.  For this task, students will create an app for Android devices and write analysis responses.  This project is in the same format as will be used for our official performance tasks that will be submitted to the AP Board in May.


AP Registration Deadline Coming Soon!

The deadline to register and pay for the AP exam is November 8th.  Students who register after this date will have a significant late fee.  Please see the instructions for how to register for the AP exam: https://sdw.waukesha.k12.wi.us//cms/lib/WI02216052/Centricity/Domain/875/North%20AP%20Test%20Letter%20-%20August%202019%20.pdf. Please note that there are two parts to the registration process this year.  Students must declare that they intend to take the exam through our AP Central account AND must register with Total Registration: https://user.totalregistration.net/AP/502389.



Programming the Web 1

This week, students will be wrapping up our seventh unit on adding images and colors to our web pages.  Once this is complete, students will work on our eighth unit where we will focus on the "Box Model".  Understanding this will allow students to have better control over the spacing in our webpages.  Students are considered "on pace" for the course if lesson 8 is uploaded by the end of class on Friday.